February 27, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday and Happy March to everyone... that's right... adios February and hello to March! Hard to believe that we will soon be having our second parent teacher conferences and the next batch of report cards is going out... this year is ZIPPING by! Thank you all for your hard work - your passion, dedication and willingness to employ innovative practices is unparalleled! This was crystal clear to me on Tuesday during our F.E.O. based on what was shared... the love and respect that defines our staff filled the air. Meanwhile, several people shared that they did not have an opportunity to leave a comment for everyone... so, with that in mind, we will continue this activity at either the March 10th or 17th FEO so come with your ideas and pens ready to go! I will let you know as we get closer to the date. 

In regards to the report cards, if there any comments you want me to read (either a specific child or the whole class) please print out a hard copy and leave it in my office. I have difficulty reading the comments online so a printed out hard copy would be helpful. Please don't forget to touch base with families if there is something negative or concerning going on with a specific child... don't let the report card comment or conference be the first time the family is hearing about our concerns.

Finally, I am not sure if any of you saw my last blog post but I wrote a letter to Governor Cuomo expressing my concerns about his suggested revisions to the educator evaluation plan - he wants test scores to count for 50% of the evaluation and he wants an outside "independent" evaluator to be part of the teacher observation process for 35% so that 85% of the evaluation process would be out of our hands on some level and I don't think this is ok... it is not in the best interest of kids so I wrote this... Dear Governor Cuomo.



This week, as I walked around #Cantiague this week, I spotted the following #EduWins...

• Katie facilitated an awesome writing workshop experience with her kids this week. The children are immersed in the start of a fairy tale unit of study and they were learning about the various text features of fairy tales. After a read aloud, where Katie had the children identify the text features, the children worked in partnerships to explore different texts. During their explorations the children identified the text features to determine if the books would qualify as fairy tales and they did this really well. WOW!!! What an awesome activity that not only fostered collaboration but also critical thinking. 

• While visiting Janine's room during writing workshop time, I observed one of her students sitting next to another student and basically facilitating a peer writing conference. The little boy in need of assistance is still developing his English skills and his classmate got down right next to him and helped him stretch out words so he could spell them correctly in his piece. I was so in awe of this moment because not only was it great that Janine has created an environment where kids feel comfortable supporting each other but this little girl was doing a phenomenal job and it was clear to me that our building is filled with Lead Learners!

• While visiting the science lab with Jacquie, I happened to observe a fifth grade class in action and the children were doing an impressive job constructing DNA! The kids were so engaged and they were working collaboratively, which allowed them to problem solve so they could create structures that actual twisted like DNA and in the end, they all met with success - it was pretty awesome! A special thank you to our science team for creating such appropriate and engaging hands-on activities in the science lab!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to explore how we can harness the power of social media, check out this great article with some useful suggestions... How To Use Social Media as a Learning Tool. Please touch base with me if there is anything here you want to try!


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, March 2

"A" Week
Happy Monday & March to everyone!
Gr. 3 - 5 Math After school Test Prep

Tuesday, March 3

Gr. 3 Open House at 8:45am
No F.E.O. this week! 

Wednesday, March 4

Shared Decision Making Team Meeting at 3pm
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA After school Test Prep

Thursday, March 5

CST @ 1:20pm
PTA Executive Board Meeting at 9:30am
Board of Ed Budget Workshop & Joint PTA Council @ 6pm

Friday, March 6

Happy TGIF!

Kids' Korner

While talking to a group of third graders during dismissal the other day, they could not stop talking about how much they love Genius Hour and how it is one of their favorite things about this school year. That was totally awesome news... thank you all for taking a chance this year and incorporating Genius Hour - the kids clearly love it!        

Pics of the Week...

Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...

WEEK IN TWEETS

February 13, 2015

Curriculum Connections...

Happy Friday and Happy Winter Break to everyone! I hope you all enjoy a restful and relaxing break that will allow us an opportunity to recharge for March, which is always such a busy month with report cards, parent teacher conferences and the looming state tests. This week will be a busy one for me as I have to make some serious progress with my dissertation. I have class in Philly next week... only one more weekend of classes in March and then I am done with classes. Before all that business though, I am excited for this weekend because I am going to be celebrating Valentine's Day with Paul- the best valentine a dad could ask for! With that in mind, thank you all for the beautiful heart notes listing the things that you love about Cantiague - it is an honor to work with you each, learn from you each day and call you extended family. Happy Valentine's Day! 

In other really important news, I want to officially congratulate and recognize two of our amazing colleagues... Lorraine Tedesco and Ginny Lindner. For those of you who have not heard, both Ginny and Lorraine will be retiring at the end of this year. Congratulations to two of the most amazing, passionate and dedicated educators I have ever worked with in my career. We will miss you terribly and please know that you have left your mark on Cantiague! 

I want to begin by thanking Rande for helping me to facilitate our first every student-led Faculty Enhancement Opportunity. It was such a positive and powerful experience that really captured what Cantiague stands for - empowering students and amplifying their collective voices. Thank you Rande for giving them the time to prepare and thank you to each of you for being such a supportive and encouraging audience. The feedback many of you shared will be extremely helpful as we begin to plan for our next student-led professional development session. More details to follow on that event but we are aiming for early March. As a quick follow-up, if you want any of the students who presented to come to your classroom to either share with you or your students, please reach out to Rande - I am sure the kids would be thrilled!

Finally, whenever you get a chance, please reach out to either Donna, Christine, Melanie, Meryl, Jessica, Allison or Marissa (and there are others) to see the incredible digital publications created by their classes using Google Classroom and specifically Google Docs. The third graders generated newspapers about Brazil while the fifth graders wrote nonfiction pieces based on their own research. All I can say is... WOW! Thank you for pushing the kids to publish for a much broader audience!  


This week, as I walked around #Cantiague this week, I spotted the following #EduWins...

• Congratulations to our amazing 5th graders who worked diligently to digitally publish their latest nonfiction research pieces. The majority of the children published using Google Docs (from within Google Classroom) and they finally began to see the power of publishing for an audience beyond the four walls of our school. Thank you Marissa, Allison, Christina, Jessica and Rande for taking a risk here and pushing our kids out of their comfort zones... AWESOME!

• Adam and his munchkins did an amazing job exploring the power of QR codes to share their video book reviews of their favorite books. The children did such an incredible job sharing their quick video reviews of their favorite book from 2014 and then creating the library of QR codes in the hallway took the experience to another level... BRAVO!

• Special shout out to Nancy and Carly who turned their classroom over to a group of Chinese parents to immerse the children in a rich and meaningful Chinese New Year Celebration. There were a few parents parents who facilitated a read aloud, handed out red envelopes, included the traditional dragon and encouraged the kids to make their own paper lanterns for a beautifully comprehensive experience... a true home/school connection!

Tech Tip of the Week...

As we continue to steam ahead in 2015, I thought you might be interested in this resource that spotlights 52 Of The Best Apps for the Classroom for 2015 - how many are we already using?


SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK... 

Monday, February 23

"B" Week
Happy Monday & Welcome back from the break!
Gr. 3 - 5 ELA & Math After school Test Prep starts today
All teacher planbooks are due to Tony by Thursday!

Tuesday, February 24

F.E.O. @ 3pm - Full Staff 

Wednesday, February 25

Happy Wednesday!
ELA & Math After School Test Prep

Thursday, February 26

CST @ 1:20pm
Cultural Arts... FINAL ONE!

Friday, February 27

Happy TGIF!
Adios to February... March here we come!
This might be the date of Paul's surgery.

Kids' Korner

While walking through the lunchroom, a kindergarten student ran over to me, wrapped his arms around my leg and screamed, "Mr. Sinanis, I love rubbing my face on your pants!" Of course, it was ice cream day and you can guess what was all over my pants. Good times!        

Pics of the Week...

Check out Cantiague's Week in Tweets - click on the following link to see our Pics of the Week...

WEEK IN TWEETS